Annual Report of the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago 2012-2013 Annual Report 2012-2013 | Page 8

remove the need for Judges and Judicial Officers to have to
negotiate with the Executive for staffing and financial resources,
as well as to minimise their involvement with administrative
matters surrounding resource and expenditure management: in
essence freeing them to concentrate on their primary duty of
judging. The DCA, through its reporting function, supports the
Judiciary’s independence by ensuring that we remain accountable to our stakeholders, including the public, an objective that
remains a primary anchor in the mission and vision of the
institution.
Another important and related issue is the ability of the
Judiciary to deliver on its mandate to the ultimate benefit of the
Court’s customers and the rule of law. That is why the institution took the lead a decade ago in beginning to focus on the
customer, arising from modern court and new public management concepts, and paving the way for our current initiatives at
transforming the institution into a service-oriented entity. Not
only has the Judiciary strived to develop a deep awareness of the
customer and the skills for operating from a customer service
perspective, but the institution has also taken steps to ensure
that its justification for resources from external entities is based
on the needs of serving the customer. The Judiciary can hold up
as an example the Family Court which began as a pilot but has
developed into a model court with consistently high customer
satisfaction levels. Today the customer service philosophy is still
being shaped and nurtured as the organisation seeks to come to
terms with and promote the required culture that should
complement change and transformation.
Though an independent and separate arm of the State, the
Judiciary cannot function effectively without collaboration and
consultation with the Executive and other court stakeholders. It
must be emphasised that the Judiciary does not stand alone, but
depends on the alignment of purpose of all actors who play a
part in the administration of justice. Such alignment, the
Judiciary believes, must incorporate the key principles of due
process, impartiality, integrity, timeliness and expedition, and
public trust and confidence. Positive results from this intersectoral collaboration and consultation will accrue only if these
key principles are given prominence by all justice sector
partners and promoted as key objectives for successful justice

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Reshaping the

Judiciary Identity

outcomes. It is this reasoning that has prompted the Judiciary’s
consistent and very strong advocacy for consultation and
collaboration as key drivers of success in achieving lasting
transformation. It is also what has inspired the promotion and
implementation of the concept of a Justice Sector InterMinisterial Committee which has found wide acceptance and
participation by all members.
The intention of that mechanism, which is chaired by the Chief
Justice, was to facilitate collaboration and agreement and thus
have a shared voice when speaking to the needs and development of the justice system. A practical example that highlights
the success of this approach has been the critical role played by
the Committee in enabling the Judiciary and Executive
stakeholders to prepare for the implementation of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act No. 20 of 2011 in
terms of interpreting the policy and understanding the process
and resource needs of the various stakeholders in a relatively
short space of time. This remains a work in progress, and the
Judiciary remains on standby to mutually align its own
timetable and work plans for ultimate implementation.
The Judiciary anticipates that the formula for modernising the
justice system will not change very much in the future. As such
the institution has once again taken the lead in developing a
comprehensive strategy for its transformation and realignment,
as well as for modernising the administration of justice that has
at its core, service to customers, stakeholder collaboration, and
building employee commitment.